


What Do You Do When She Turns You Down?

by Debi_C



Series: The Drunken Colonel Saga [15]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-13
Updated: 2012-05-13
Packaged: 2017-11-05 07:52:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/404062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Debi_C/pseuds/Debi_C
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>WARNING! WARNING! SLASH! SO IF YOU DON'T LIKE SLASH DON'T READ IT.  This story doesn't exist, ignore it completely.    It doesn't hurt the story line. But if you do like slash find out why Sam won't marry Daniel. Don't worry. Be happy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Do You Do When She Turns You Down?

It was late in the afternoon, sevenish, when the last of the guests were leaving. Janet was going to have Sam over for the weekend and they were taking a trip to pick up some things for the baby in Denver. It would be a good break for the two women after the tenseness of the previous week when Daniel and Teal'c had been out of contact. Then, when they were located, the archaeologist had been injured. 

Daniel was now staying at O'Neill's house while his dislocated shoulder healed. The Bar-b-que had been to celebrate, welcome and relax the five friends back into their normal lives, if there were such a thing as normalcy attached to their life at the SGC. 

Sam was in Jack's living room sitting on the couch looking out the window. Daniel entered the room carrying two glasses of orange juice. He handed one to her, and sat down next to his friend and lover to take a sip out of the other one. 

She smiled at him. "How are you doing?" 

"Hey, that's supposed to be my line." Daniel returned her smile. 

She glanced down at her burgeoning belly. "We're fine...better than fine actually. Auntie Janet is very pleased." 

Daniel watched her expression carefully, then satisfied, glanced out the window at Jack and Janet. "That's great, I was getting a little concerned. You've been sick for a long time." 

Carter shrugged, "There's evidently no hard and fast rules about morning sickness. Mine just lasted a little longer than normal." She acknowledged his concern. "We're fine, really." Then she indicated his shoulder. "How's the shoulder you, or more importantly how's the Colonel treating you?" 

"Fine, I'm a little bored and Jack's driving me crazy. He won't let me do anything except sit on the couch, watch television and eat." Daniel shook his head. "I'm even watching the old Television shows on TV land. There were lots of westerns in the sixties, I'm beginning to understand some of Jack's more esoteric comments that are based in the genre." 

Sam chuckled at him. "Poor Daniel, held prisoner by Hoss Cartwright and Nick Barkley on the High Chaparral." 

He laughed merrily with her. "Yes, maybe Matt Dillon and Lucas McCain will rescue me while I play poker with Bart Maverick and Hannibal Hayes." 

They sat together in a companionable silence for a few minutes. Finally, Daniel turned to Sam. "Look, Sam..." 

She reached over and took his hand in hers. "Daniel." 

"No, wait." He stopped her by holding his free hand up. "I want to say this; I need to say this." He paused for a moment, then took a deep breath. "Sam, I'm not going to insult you by proposing marriage again." He smiled. "I'm not sure my male ego can handle another kind refusal. I accept that you don't want to be my wife." He shrugged. "But I do want you to realize something. I will be here for you and the baby." Daniel looked at her seriously. "I want to be a part of your lives, I want to be there when my child grows up, to give her, or him, everything that I didn't have in my childhood...a place to be appreciated just for being alive, a father to come to with the hard questions." Daniel reached over and took Sam's hand, cradling it between his two. "Last week Jack took me over to the legal office on base. I rewrote my will for you two." He paused and took a breath. "I'm not rich but I have a little put away and of course there's the insurance. So, if anything happens to me on a mission, well, all the documents are in my safety deposit box. General Hammond is my executor, so you'll have no problems with the paperwork." He smiled at her surprised expression. "Look, I plan on being around for a long time. I got cheated out of my parents, I want my child to know me, to know that she or he was wanted and loved. If you find someone whom you want to marry, I'll understand, but..." 

Sam was watching him with a warm expression on her face. "Daniel, you don't have to explain and you don't have to worry. There's no one else, not now anyway." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "You know that I do love you, I'm just not in love with you...not in that way." She shook her head, "I know that you'll do anything and everything for this baby. She's going to be a very lucky little girl." 

Daniel looked surprised at her definite declaration, "She?" 

Sam dimpled and patted her tummy. "Janet did the amniocentesis. Looks like she's a girl." She watched her friend's face as he digested the information. The smile that settled on his features was wonderful to behold. She had to ask, "Daniel..." 

"Yes," 

"Daniel, you do know why we shouldn't marry, don't you?" 

He shrugged. "You keep saying it's because we aren't in love that way, that we love each other differently." Daniel looked at the woman seated next to him. 

"Well, yes, that's true enough." She looked down at their joined hands. "Daniel, I guess the real reason is that you're already in love with someone else." 

"Sam, look, I will always love Sha'uri, but she's dead." He shook his head. "I've accepted that, I'm not going to live in the past. She gave us her blessing, I told you that." 

"Sweetie, I don't mean Sha'uri. I mean you're in love with someone right here and now." She leaned towards her friend. "Look, I lived for two years trying to be someone else for Martouff, but he didn't love me, he loved Jolinar." She smiled at him. "And I know that you don't love me the way I want, the way I need to be loved, either. Take my advice, Daniel. Don't ever settle for second rate love, demand the real thing, and insist on the passion." 

He looked at her in confusion. "Sam, I..." 

She laughed gently at his confusion. "Just open your eyes, Sweetheart. Just open your eyes and look around you." 

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Daniel had walked Sam back out to Janet's Bronco while the doctor had been giving Jack last minute instructions about Daniel's pain meds. He hadn't really needed the information. It was more a way to give the pair a few more minutes alone together. 

Finally, after a short discussion, Daniel handed Sam up into the Ford and turned to come back to the house. Seeing the two were finished talking, Janet thanked the Colonel for his hospitality again and headed for her vehicle. Jack watched as the petite physician stopped to talk to his friend on his way back to the house. Daniel shook his head and she patted him on his good arm. They separated and he turned to watch the car drive off. After the vehicle was out of sight, the younger man turned back to finish his trek into the house. 

Jack walked beside him to the house then pulled the screen door open for him as Daniel slowly climbed the two stairs and entered the house. "What's wrong, Daniel?" 

"Nothing." 

"Are you okay?" 

"Fine." 

"Oh, that good, eh." O'Neill looked at him critically. "Shoulder bothering you?" 

"Not bad." 

"Not good?" 

"No," finally the blue eyes met his. "Not good." 

"Come on, let's try this new stuff Doc left for you." 

"Yeah, lets." Emphasis on the plural. "I'll take one, and you take one...then we can compare notes." 

Jack eyed him suspiciously. "Oh...kay! What's wrong?" He went into the guestroom for the meds. 

Daniel, realizing that he'd exposed a bit more of his mood than he'd wanted too, shook his head. "Sorry," he called after his best friend. 

O'Neill, returned with pill bottle in hand, and after a side trip to the kitchen for a glass of milk, returned to Daniel's side. "Here, quit bitching and take two of these." 

"Vicodin?" He complained. "I wanted to watch the program tonight about that new tomb they've just opened in Egypt." 

"I'll tape it for you." Jack promised. "Do you want something else to eat?" 

"No, Jack. I'm fine, really." Daniel assured him a little too quickly. 

"Uh huh." His friend looked at him critically. "Daniel...what's really wrong? Give." 

Jackson gave up and sat down on the couch. O'Neill joined him, handing him the two pills. With a grimace, Daniel took the proffered pills and swallowed them along with half the glass of milk. He leaned back against the cushions and closed his eyes. 

Jack plucked the still half-full glass out of his hand, rescuing the carpet from an imminent spill. He looked with concern at his friend. Daniel wasn't bouncing back from his injury as quickly as he normally did. Of course, they had been on continuous missions for several months. The last fiasco had been with the Tok'ra. Daniel and Teal'c had supposedly been doing a favor for the High Council excavating some ruins on the new Tok'ra Home world instead of having their usual downtime. As it turned out, the whole situation had been a setup by a renegade Tok'ra to have her elderly spouse be able to implant himself, or his snake, into Daniel. It had been a very near thing and all of them had been shaken up by the closeness of the call. Once again Daniel had been injured, zatted and scared spitless in the process. Not five months before that, the two of them had nearly been killed when a psuedo-Sumerian Ziggurat they were exploring had fallen on them. Daniel had suffered from broken ribs and a collapsed lung that time. As Ferretti was fond of saying, it wasn't the years that were making his friend old before his time, it was the mileage. 

"Do you want to go to bed, or do you want to stay up and watch the program?" Jack asked him softly. 

"I'd really like to watch it, Jack." Daniel replied, sounding remarkably like a small boy who's Dad had just told him to go to bed on a school night. 

Jack looked at him and shook his head. "Okay, I'll get you a blanket from your room." He got up, went into the kitchen, put the glass in the dishwasher and then started up the stairs to the guestroom. As he passed his own room, he glanced in at the dresser that went with his king-sized bed and the where the TV was sitting. He paused at the door and thought for a minute, then he turned around and went back down the stairs. "Daniel." 

Jackson was stretched out on the couch with his head propped up on the armrest. Jack knew that his friend would probably fall asleep on the couch while watching television. Tomorrow morning, he'd wake up with a stiff neck and a headache. It made no sense to him when it could be prevented. At the sound of his name, Daniel looked over at Jack. "Um huh?" 

"Look, come on up to my bedroom." Jack suggested. "You can watch the TV there and if you fall asleep, there's no harm done. If you sleep on that..." he indicated the couch, "you'll wake up miserable." 

"Sleep in your room?" 

"Sure why not? We share a tent. What's the difference?" 

"No, Jack, that's okay. I'll be all right down here." 

"Daniel, you'll fall off that couch and hurt your shoulder again." Jack argued. "Come on." O'Neill grinned a playfully lascivious grin at him. "What? Are you worried about your virtue?" 

"No, Jack." Daniel looked very young and vulnerable on the couch. "I'm not worried about my virtue." 

"Well, I know you're not worried about mine." Jack returned, "So come on, don't be silly, and let's get your butt up to my bed. You can watch your show, I'll read and if we fall asleep with the TV on, nobody will care." 

Daniel looked up at him from the couch. It did seem reasonable, and he didn't want to fall off the couch and reinjure his bad arm. Finally, he nodded. "Okay, you're right, it does make sense." 

Jack reached down and took his good hand in his firm grasp. Using that as leverage, Daniel pulled himself up onto his feet and stood there while Jack finished turning out the lights and the TV off. Then, the two men made their way up the stairs to the master bedroom. 

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The clock said 03:30 when Jack blearily opened his eyes and looked at its illuminated face. The TV screen was white and the static of its empty carrier hum was soft in the distance. But that was not the sound that had awakened him. 

On the far side of the king sized bed, Daniel was muttering in his sleep. The younger man shifted against the white sheets and moaned softly, not a happy moan, but a soul deep expression of despair. Jack rolled over to his side and contemplated the best action to be taken. The glaring light from the television screen highlighted Daniel's features. He was dreaming, his r.e.m. was in full swing, and his breathing was rough as if he were running from something. O'Neill wanted to just reach over and wake him, to save his friend from whatever evil his sleeping subconscious had conjured up. However, that wasn't always the best or the safest thing to do. He knew from experience that to interrupt a dream like this was to put oneself in a certain amount of harm's way. His Danny was no lightweight anymore. A blow from him could do considerable damage to whatever or whoever was on the receiving end of it. 

But Jack also knew that he couldn't leave the other man alone with his nightmare. He shifted to a sitting position. "Daniel. Wake up." He called gently, "Danny...come on, buddy...wake up." 

There was no response from the other. Jack could see the expression change, the features shifting subtly in the faint light. "Daniel. Danny." Sometimes he would respond to the childhood name that his parents must have used. "Danny." Cautiously, gently, as tenderly as if he were going to stroke a wild animal, Jack reached for his friend. "Daniel, Danny, please...wake up for me...come on. It just Jack, buddy, it's time to wake up." He lightly placed a hand on Daniel's tee shirt clad chest. 

The result was not totally unexpected. The man's eyes opened and he sat up immediately, gasping for breath as if he'd been running from something. 

Jack grasped his friend's shoulder to keep him in place on the bed. "Daniel. It's okay, you're dreaming...wake up, Danny." 

Daniel dropped his head and took several deep breaths. Finally, he glanced at Jack and nodded. "I'm okay. What happened?" 

"You were having a nightmare." As the younger man's continued confused look, He proceeded to explain. "We fell asleep with the TV on. You woke me up with your dream." Jack patted him on the back. "It must have been a doozy!" 

"Oh, yeah." Daniel shivered, wrapping his good arm around his torso. "I was back on the planet and Joaab, well, Salot...kept crawling towards me and I couldn't get away..." 

Jack nodded, sympathetically. "I can imagine, and he wasn't even interested in me." Daniel sighed again and lay back down on the pillow; Jack rolled over on his side to look at his best friend. "You want me to get you something?" 

Daniel stared up at the ceiling fan. After a minute he spoke in a soft voice. "Yes, no, I don't know." He turned his head to look at Jack. "Answers maybe." At O'Neill's quizzical look, he continued. "Why is it always me? I don't get it." 

Jack cocked his head to the side looking at his young friend, "You really don't know do you?" 

"No, I don't. I know you keep telling everybody I'm a trouble-magnet, but...I really do try to stay out of harm's way." The younger man sounded frustrated with his realization. "I mean, it seems like every false goddess, lost princess and damsel in distress wants to cause trouble for me...and you guys." 

"I know. It's not your intention or even your actions that do it." Jack shook his head and smiled at his friend. "This is gonna sound really weird coming from me, but..." 

Daniel blinked owlishly at him trying to see Jack's face in the half-light of the television screen, "Oh, boy now I am worried." 

Jack nodded, took a deep breath and answered him. "Daniel, do you even know what a beautiful man your are?" 

Daniel looked at him as if he had suddenly grown a second head. "What!" 

Jack had to chuckle at his expression. "Hey, you asked. I'm just answering." 

"You think I look like a geek! You've said that a hundred times." 

"No, I've said you looked like a geek." He teased back. "Used to you did. But somewhere between the regular meals, the exercise, the fresh air, the haircut..." 

"The forced marches, the self-defense courses, the running for my life..." 

"Exactly...somewhere in between all those life-altering experiences, my skinny little geeky friend, well, he grew up." Jack had to smile at Daniel's expression. "He put on weight, muscle, maturity, and abandoned his search for the holy plaid. Daniel, don't take this the wrong way, but you're a babe." 

Daniel laughed out loud. "Oh, yeah, sure...!" 

"I'm serious, buddy." Jack declared. "Why do you think Doc Fraiser always does your post mission checkups now?" 

"So, she can keep track of my allergy meds." He answered firmly. 

"Yeah, well, okay, that too." O'Neill nodded. "But mainly to keep the nurses off of your butt, literally and figuratively." He laughed at his friend's incredulous expression. "I'm serious, with the rest of us, they give us the normal once over and off we go...with you, it's 'Where did you get that bruise, Doctor Jackson?', Did you sneeze more, Daniel?', 'Do you get enough sleep off world, Professor?', 'Did you eat any of the local plants, drink lots of water, pee, barf, snore...." Jack looked at his friend's shocked expression. "They do, ya know!" He insisted. 

"Uh, yeah." Daniel had the fish expression on now. "They do, but don't they do that to you guys, too?" 

"No, Daniel, they don't." He grinned back. "Now you know why we were always waiting for you. Doc finally got tired of them wasting time on you and, no, you're not the waste of time," he raised his hand at Daniel's open mouth. "They are. And your general cluelessness just adds to the overall cuteness factor." 

"Jack..." 

He shrugged. "You asked...I'm telling you the truth. And of course, interest like that on a mission, well, it's a trouble magnet." 

Daniel looked up at the ceiling, an odd expression on his face. "I don't know what to do." 

Jack shrugged with one shoulder. "Nothing to do, Danny." He grinned. "Just be aware of it, try to adjust, or maybe minimize it, if you can." 

Daniel rolled over to face Jack as they lay in bed. The younger man had a pained expression on his face for a while, suddenly he asked. "Then why won't Sam marry me?" 

"She's told you that, Daniel." Jack replied truthfully. "She says she loves you, but she isn't in love with you. You're like her little brother, one of her best friends. Heck, she's seen you, and me too for that matter: sick, drunk, mad, silly, stupid, dead...she loves us and will never leave us, but in love? Nah, she's too smart for that." 

"She'd marry you." Daniel said positively. 

"Nope, we did that little dance, remember?" He shook his head. "Not ever gonna happen, and thank God we both realized how stupid it was before we ruined her career." Jack looked over at him. "Are you IN love with her, I mean like you were with Sha'uri?" 

There was a pause. "Well, no. Not exactly, but with the baby coming..." 

Jack shook his head. "Then don't press the issue, Daniel." He held up a hand to stop the expected argument. "Believe me when I tell you that being friends...you and Sam staying friends will be much better on the little guy than you two fighting or even living together in a loveless marriage." He continued. "You're already like family Daniel, don't be messing with it for no good reason." Jack looked at him seriously. "If you feel you have too, then talk to her one last time." 

"I already did." He admitted. 

"And you told her the truth." Daniel nodded. Jack wanted to reach out to his friend but didn't let himself do it. "You said 'Sam, I care a great deal for you...and the baby...and if or when you decide you want to get married, we can. But I'm not gonna bug you about it anymore. So, if you ever need anything, you just call me and I'll come running.' " He looked at the younger man steadily. 

Daniel nodded at his words. 

Jack just smiled and patted him on his good shoulder. "Then you've done all you can do." He smiled encouragingly. "Now, go to sleep, Daniel." 

Long after Daniel had dozed off again, Jack lay looking at his friend in the dim moonlight. 

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning, Jack awoke to the soft snores of Daniel in his ear. He was still lying on his back and in his normal sleeping position, towards the center of the bed. But during the nigh the younger man had shifted his position. Daniel was now cuddled up against him, with his head pressed up against his shoulder, his body up next to him and a hand wrapped around Jack's bicep. He could also tell that Daniel had an early morning erection. This in no way affected the fact that Jack had one too and probably for the same reason. It was sort of embarrassing, not the fact of the physical manifestation, but his body's inability to withstand temptation without demonstrating it. 

O'Neill lay there, contemplating a fact of life. He was drawn to the younger man, loved him in fact, way more than he was supposed to. What had started out as an innocent attachment, a paternal feeling for a waif-like civilian scientist on his team, had developed into a connection that was much more visceral in nature. At first, Jack had blamed it on the adrenaline rush that accompanied the many life or death, fight or flight situations that they always seemed to wind up in. The excitement of battle, the risk of it all, the success when they got back or the relief when they managed to pull their collective asses out of the fire when things got hairy. All of these things led to physical reactions, one of which was often an erection the size of the Washington Monument. It was an automatic response, it was nervous energy with no other place to go, it was happening now and Daniel was waking up. 

O'Neill could feel the other man's rhythmic breathing alter and the weight against his side shifted slightly. Daniel was waking up and realizing where he was and what he was doing...which was Jack. In a few seconds, Daniel rolled away from him and over onto his stomach. 

"Sorry." Came the mumbled comment. 

Jack eased up onto his side, propping himself up with his elbow. "For what?" 

"Nothing." Daniel responded, his voice muffled by the pillow he had wrapped around his head. 

"Dan-iel." 

"Please, Jack; just let me be for a while." 

"Danny, if you're having a problem with something..." He reached over and placed his hand on his friend's shoulder. 

Daniel flinched and shrugged out from under the warm hand. "Jack, don't." 

O'Neill pulled back and looked at the tense back and ostrich-like position. "Okay, I'm sorry..." 

"Jack, you haven't done anything. It's not you. Just...give me a minute here, okay." 

Jack frowned at him. "Does this have something to do with last night? You and Carter?" 

"NO! Yes, I don't know." 

"Cause of the marriage thing?" 

"No." 

"Cause she's pregnant?" 

"No." 

"Cause..." Well, here goes nothing. 

"No." 

"No what?" Where had that come from? 

"It's none of those." 

"You said it was!" 

"When?" 

"Last night." 

"No, I said I didn't know." 

"So," Jack was now beginning to feel like he had entered another dimension of the Jacksonian Twilight Zone. "What then?" 

Daniel sighed into the pillow again, "Please, Jack...go away...just for a little while." 

He put his hand on Daniel's back again needing to touch him. The other man jerked like he'd been electrocuted. 

"Daniel, are you embarrassed because you're hard?" 

Daniel shoved his head so far into the pillow, Jack was amazed he could still breathe. He could just make out the word. "Yes." 

"Danny, come on, I've been getting hard over you for three years now. It's nothing to be ashamed of." He admitted. 

The younger man shifted his position and peeked out from under his arm. "Three years?" 

Now, it was Jack's turn to mumble. "Yeah." 

"Why?" 

"Cause," 

"And you're not...embarrassed?" 

He shrugged. "Okay, a little, when it happens at inopportune times," Jack managed a small grin at his friend. "It is a normal physiological occurrence after all." 

Daniel did raise his head and his eyebrow. "Ya think?" 

"Well, so I've been told." Jack looked up at the ceiling and sighed. "Well, we do care a lot about each other, I do think you're an attractive person and, well, I just do...get one occasionally ...from nerves...you know." 

He had obviously pressed a Danny-button. Daniel transferred the pillow down a ways to a strategic location and looked at him curiously. "You think it's normal?" 

"Yeah, at least that's what I've been told." 

"By whom?" 

"A psychiatrist." 

"You've been to see MacKenzie?" 

"Good God, no! Do you think I'm nutzo?" 

Daniel looked at him dubiously. "No, I don't, but..." 

"Nah, it was a long time ago." Jack lay back down and talked to the ceiling fan. "After my stay at Club Iraq. The docs made me go see a shrink." 

"Oh, I see." Daniel nodded, knowing that he was referring to his time as a POW. 

"Yeah, I was ordered to see one." Jack grimaced. "No choice. But he, my shrink, did say that everyone has a masculine and a feminine side, some more than others based on genetics, experience, and socialization." Jack looked like he was remembering something that had mattered a lot to him at one time. 

Daniel nodded, getting into the subject. "There's a theory that sexual orientation of a fetus being carried in the first trimester can be affected if the mother undergoes some physiological or psychological trauma. 

Jack looked at him curiously. "You mean if she was frightened by an elephant...?" 

"No, Jack." Daniel smiled shyly at him. "I mean trauma, like drug interaction or injury in an accident of some kind. Anyway, it causes an alteration in the chemical make up of the amniotic fluid in the womb." 

"Really?" 

"No, Jack. I made it all up." Daniel replied sarcastically. 

"I'm not surprised." O'Neill gazed at him with a sly smile and leaned towards him with what he hoped was a teasing expression on his face. "So, what now?" 

"Now? What?" Daniel looked at him a little startled, blue eyes widening in surprise. 

"Yeah, what next? He leaned a little closer, then forced himself to pull back from the slightly open mouth that seemed to beckon to him. "Cause I'm gonna take a shower. You want breakfast?" While Daniel just gaped at the quick change of subject, Jack rolled off the bed and headed for the bathroom, leaving the younger man lying in the bed by himself. 

Jack turned on the shower to warm the water before he got it. Things were taking an odd turn and he had allowed himself to go with the flow. Why HAD Carter turned Daniel down? She had to know he'd be as nearly perfect as a husband and father as he was in everything else he did, with single-minded dedication and wholehearted commitment. He shook his head, pulled off his tee shirt and dropped his boxers to step into the shower. He stood there a moment willing his body to behave itself. If he wasn't careful their teasing play could and would turn serious. 

What the hell was he doing anyway? Not like he didn't have enough troubles. Sexually harassing an unwilling team member was a sure way to go to rack and ruin. Daniel wouldn't report him, he knew, but it could certainly fuck up the team dynamics. Bad enough he'd gotten so stupid with Carter a few months back. "What HAD he been thinking. It wasn't as if he could have forgotten his feelings for Daniel even if he and she had gone against all common sense and started an illicit romance. It would have been an unmitigated disaster. And now, here he was again, fooling himself into believing that there was a chance for him to be with someone he cared about more than anything. He upended the shampoo bottle into his hand, and let the water sluice through his graying hair. Stupid, stupid, stupid! 

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Daniel groaned as the door closed then rolled over and pulled the other man's pillow against his chest, inhaling the smell that had come to mean, if not safety, then at least comfort to him. Rolling back onto his stomach he crossed his arms on the cushion and propped his chin on the back of his hands. What was Jack playing at? He groaned into his hands and closed his eyes. Didn't Jack know what he did to him? He had known last night that sharing a real bed with his friend was going to become a problem. 

Daniel heard the shower come on in the bathroom. He could imagine what was going on in there. In the fogged up glass doorway, Daniel could picture the man in his mind's eye. The strong fingers pouring the shampoo or body soap into the strong hands, then massaging it into the long lean muscles of the chest and belly. They would roam down to manipulate and caress the penis and testicles, rub between the strong thighs to clean every part of himself. Then down the long, powerful legs. Jack always stood up straight as he soaped his feet, balancing his weight on one lean leg like a waterbird and lifting the foot to be washed to knee level. He had once said, with a laugh, that it left him less exposed and that if you protected your six, then the rest of you could take care of itself. At first Daniel hadn't understood, and commented that since a guy's twelve seemed to have more delicate parts, it should be protected too. Jack had just chuckled, and told him if he ever showered with a large group not to drop his soap. 

Once, after coming home from a planet that had been home to a myriad of insect life, Jack had been in the next shower stall and called him over to scrub a spot on his back. The other man had been unable to reach the area and he said he felt like there was something... attached to him. Daniel had just stepped around the shoulder high partition and was using a wash cloth to scrub the area to remove any invisible mites, when a member of SG-3 had come in unexpectedly to see the two of them in what could have been a compromising position. 

Daniel had quickly scooted back to his own shower stall. The Marine just laughed at them, apologizing for catching them 'in the act', and had left the area. Jack had rolled his eyes at him and commented that their good reputations were going to be suffering again and by running like he had, Daniel had only added fuel to the fire. He had been embarrassed, not by the discovery, but that he had been more than half hard at the time the Marine had walked in on them. There had only been a few knowing smiles and Ferretti had actually winked at Daniel during a reference to the shower stall area at a later time. Jack had been there and made some follow up jibe to his old friend and team member about his relationship to someone named Stan. The resulting laughter had covered up any real interest or harm, but Daniel had always remembered it with embarrassment, mainly because the reasons for the joke had been true. 

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Late that evening, Jack was berating himself. He'd done it again, let Daniel talk him into staying up past eleven PM and then falling asleep on the couch. It always made him crazy; hell, it always made him horny. When Daniel was asleep, Jack always took the opportunity to watch his friend. Daniel was such a cute sleeper, his face reflecting his dreams squinting, and puckering in the most endearing way. However, if he slept the entire night on the couch, he was not going to be an easy waker-upper nor very charming to deal with in the morning. "Daniel," he went and bent over his friend. "Daniel, come on, lets get you to bed." 

One blue eye opened and regarded him with drowsy disbelief. "What?" 

"C'mon, Daniel. You need to go to bed. It's almost midnight and you are so not going to sleep here." 

A deep sigh and a rustle of afghan. "Oohkayee," Jack finally got the younger man onto his feet and aimed up the short flight of steps to the upstairs bedrooms. His friend had obviously been on the couch too long. Daniel was moving slowly, his muscles stiff from his awkward position on the sofa. They had made it to the staircase and up the first few steps when Daniel misjudged the height of a stair and tried to use his injured arm to catch himself. 

Jack was about three feet behind him when he heard the gasp of pain and saw Daniel grab for the banister. He looked up in time to see his friend go down on one knee and then begin to tumble backwards. Instinctively, he leaned forward and tried to catch the falling man before he injured himself further. Jack got his hands on Daniel, but the angle was all wrong and the law of gravity was against them. Daniel's weight overbalanced him and the two of them fell against the wall. 

Jack wound up pushed against the flat surface, and was supporting Daniel with his hands on the young man's chest and shoulders, his friend having fallen against him. Jack was leaning heavily on the wall panel for support, trying to regain his balance and equilibrium so they both wouldn't tumble down to the floor level again. Daniel's forehead was resting on his chest and he was breathing rapidly, trying to keep the pain of his injured shoulder from overwhelming him. Jack held him firmly, standing stock still, feeling the warm pliable body in his hands and soft breath feathering across his arm. He waited for Daniel's pain and his own physical response to pass. Daniel didn't need this. Hell, he didn't need this...but it was still so trying to happen. 

After remaining in place for a few seconds, Daniel looked up the few scant inches to Jack's face. The younger man's expression was one of need, of want and confusion. As Daniel looked up, Jack just happened to look down. Helpless to prevent it and, as softly as a breath, they kissed. 

When Jack felt the feather soft lips caress his, he exhaled his need under his breath. His grip changed from one of support to need, "Daniel...what...oh, Daniel..." He murmured into the willing mouth. 

Then as suddenly as the contact had been given to him, it was ripped away and his arms were empty once again. Daniel had fled, bolting up the stairs and closing the door to his bedroom behind him. 

Jack stayed slumped on the stairwell, his burgeoning erection throbbing against his belly. What had just happened? Why had it happened and what the hell was he supposed to about it now? 

He hadn't done anything....had he? Was he the instigator? Was Daniel? If so, why had the younger man run? Jack slid down to a crouching position there on the staircase and put his face in his hands, trying to return his breathing to normal. Finally, after several minutes had passed, Jack climbed the stairs, went past the closed guestroom door and entered into his own bedroom. 

 

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Daniel had fled to the guestroom as soon as he realized that he had really done it, that he had done IT, the unthinkable, forcing himself on his best friend. He hadn't meant too, really. He'd just...been thinking about it. Only thinking, dreaming, he hadn't really meant to DO it. But, suddenly, he had been in Jack's arms...and he'd done it. Yeah, with friends like him, who needed enemies? Why? Why had he done it? What possessed him to do these unexplainable things to people he cared about. It would have been better if he'd just never come back from Abydos. Or considering the results of everything in his life, it probably would have been better if he 'd have just been killed with his parents in New York. He ran his hands through his unruly hair and finally lay face down on the borrowed bed. 

 

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Jack awoke in the darkness of his own bedroom. He was unsure of what had happened. He could just see his surroundings, feel his firm bed under him. He rolled over and felt around the immediate area, found a familiar switch and turned it on. Yep, he was in his own bedroom. The television stood cold and alone on the dresser and the sheets were in the disarray that one person causes when he sleeps alone and unsettled in the bed. 

He'd been dreaming that Daniel was with him, that Daniel was close to him, that Daniel was kissing him. Jack smiled to himself. Oh yeah. He liked that dream; he'd had it before many times. His friend, his beautiful Daniel, lying next to him and kissing him. He closed his eyes, willing himself to go back to sleep. But after a few moments of lying there awake and wanting the impossible, he got up and went into the bathroom where he emptied his bladder. He thought he remembered that Daniel had fallen against him on the staircase and they had kissed. Had that been real? Or only part of a dream? Jack shook his head; he'd get no more sleep tonight. Glancing at the alarm clock he saw it was five thirty. Might as well make the coffee. 

Pulling on his tee shirt over his boxers, Jack wandered out of his room and out into the hallway. He'd start the coffee and lay down on the couch until the paper came, or Daniel woke up or someone called. He'd slept there many times before. On his way down to the living area, Jack passed the closed door to Daniel's room. Stopping a moment, he gently lay his had on the wood. Unexpectedly, it pushed open under the pressure. 

Daniel lay on his back, still fully clothed, on the bed. The curtains were open to the light of the full moon and he had thrown one arm across his face blocking the silver light. He appeared to be asleep. O'Neill was drawn to the sight of the younger man as a moth to the proverbial flame. He padded softly into the moonlit room, his bare feet silent, to come to stand by the bed and look down at the sleeping man. 

The bare forearm was lying carelessly across the brow and eyes, as if to hide the expressive features. The full lipped mouth was slightly open, the lower lip gleaming moistly in the moonlight. The sleeve of his shirt shadowed the strong jaw and the fine delicate skin that wrapped the sturdy column of the throat. 

Then the lips moved as if speaking. At first O'Neill thought that Daniel was waking up, but he realized that he was murmuring in his sleep. Softly, the mouth framed the unintelligible words that were being whispered in his dreams. Then, the lips pursed slightly and a pink tip of tongue appeared briefly to moisten them in their nocturnal discussion. The white teeth pulled on the lower edge and chewed briefly on it. Jack caught his breath. Even while sleeping, the sensual Daniel was reeking havoc on his libido. He had it bad. Then a soft puff of air followed by an indrawn gasp. "Jack." 

O'Neill looked at him carefully. Was Danny awake? No, no he was still asleep, asleep and dreaming, calling out to him in a nocturnal question of... what? 

"Jack" a soft whisper. 

He was calling Jack's name. No matter what, in their relationship, Jack knew that Daniel would always call to him when he was in trouble. Many times in the last few years, when he was sick, injured or scared, Daniel had called out to him. When he had been taken by Nem, in the visions of his death Daniel had called to him. After being mortally wounded by a staff weapon in the hallway of Klorel's ship, he'd called for his friend. During his addiction to the sarcophagus on Shyla's planet when Daniel was fighting his cravings for the alien device, he'd called for Jack. Never for Teal'c, or Sam or even Colonel O'Neill, but for his friend Jack. Jack, who couldn't always make it better, who couldn't always fix it but whom he trusted to try and whom he depended on to tell him the truth no matter how bad the truth was. 

And Jack knew that he would always answer him, just like he must answer him now. O'Neill reached out to him and lay a gentle hand on the young man's chest. "Daniel," He spoke in a soft soothing voice. "Danny, I'm here." 

The arm moved, revealing the arched eyebrows and fluttering eyelids. He was beginning to wake up. "Wha...?" Daniel jerked awake. "Jack?" He looked around in confusion, then recognized where he was. Puzzled, he looked up at his friend. 

"Hey," Jack sat down on the edge of the double bed, leaving his hand lying softly on Daniel. "You were having a dream." He let Daniel process where he was and what was happening. 

"A dream?" Daniel looked up at him in confusion. 

"Yeah, you were calling me." Well, it was the truth after all. "Are you okay?" 

"Yes," the reply was soft; the blue eyes searched his brown ones for information. Finding none, he blinked. "I'm sorry..." 

"No need to be sorry," Jack smiled down at him. "Do you want to talk about it?" 

"No, not really." Daniel shook his head. He remembered the dream, he had dreamt of kissing a Jack, of touching a Jack whom, as far as he knew, didn't exist. A Jack who would kiss him and touch him back. 

"Were you dreaming of the stairs, Daniel?" 

The stairs? The stairs had been in his dream. Hadn't that been a dream? Surely, it had been a part of the dream. But Jack was looking at him in the oddest way, in a way that he'd not looked at him before. "What?" 

Jack leaned down to look at him more closely. "I thought I had a dream last night too, Daniel." Jack spoke softly. "I thought that I dreamt that we were on the stairs..." 

"It wasn't a dream?" 

"I don't think so." He replied definitely. "It didn't feel like a dream, but maybe it was a vision..." 

"A vision?" 

"Uhmm humm." Jack moved his hand to Daniel's throat, "Maybe a vision of what could be." 

Daniel closed his eyes, not wanting to meet Jack's gaze. "I'm sorry." 

"For what?" 

"You weren't supposed to know." 

"Oh?" It was a question. "Why?" 

"I didn't want to disgust you, to make you feel uncomfortable." 

"Daniel, the only discomfort I felt was from an unrelieved hard-on." Jack smiled down at him, "And you? You can never disgust me." He stroked the stubbled cheek. "We know each other too well for that." Daniel's eyes widened in realization of what Jack was saying. Jack ran his hand down the soft skin of the throat and let it rest there on his friend's broad chest. "I'm gonna go and make some coffee. Do you need anything?" 

Daniel looked up at his friend, knowing instinctively that Jack would never force the issue. Heck, the man wouldn't even demand that they talk about their feelings. He'd always declared that he didn't do well with that 'meaning of life stuff'. Jack would go on as before, He would let them both pretend that nothing had happened to change what was between them. He would do so because that's what he thought Daniel wanted. It wouldn't matter what Jack wanted, because to him, Jack wasn't important in the scheme of things. Jack would go on doing what he was ordered to do, making the hard choices, fulfilling his role and making sure that everyone else got what they wanted. It would never even occur to him that he should have what he wanted. 

When Jack made as if to leave, Daniel reached up and caught the hand that had been resting on his chest. "Jack," 

"Yes, Daniel?" 

"What do you want?" 

"What? Do you want a list?" The response was in a joking tone of voice. 

"If you have one, yes." 

"It's a short one, Danny-boy." 

Daniel pulled on Jack's hand and sat up, favoring his shoulder. "Then, this shouldn't take too long." He was now eye-level with Jack. 

"No, it shouldn't." Their eyes met, Daniel still holding on to Jack's hand. They sat there a few seconds, neither one saying a word. 

"Well," Daniel prompted. 

Jack sat there on the edge of the bed in his guestroom, wearing boxers and a tee shirt. Daniel, still fully dressed from last night, was looking at him seriously and chewing on his long suffering lower lip. 

"Don't do that." Jack admonished his friend. 

"What?" 

"Chew on your lip like that. It looks like it hurts." 

Confused, Daniel released it from the grip of his white teeth and licked it, quickly, with his tongue. The sight made O'Neill catch his breath. Using his other hand as Daniel was still holding the first one, he leaned forward and brushed his thumb across the full lipped mouth. The younger man inhaled sharply at the action. Then he mouthed the word, Jack, and closed his eyes tilting his face upwards towards his friends. 

Jack could only watch with his breath hung somewhere in his throat. There are things that can be seen and resisted: things like choco-cherry ice cream melting in a cone, things like a brand new shiny Ford F350 with the keys in the ignition and things like a rowboat moored on a dock in the summer morning's sunlight. Then there are things that shouldn't be resisted: a Golden Retriever wanting a belly rub, a six-year-old pulling you towards a playground and a Daniel desperately and shyly asking for a kiss. If there is someone who can resist those things, they should be shot outright and put out of their misery...because they do not deserve to live. 

Jack, helpless in his commitment to the best things in life, leaned into the lure. As contact was made he felt the softness part beneath him, a soft puff of breath then a hint of sharp hard teeth. quickly covered. He opened his mouth to it and searched gently, softly grazing the lushness that was parting for him. He moved his free hand to stroke and caress the satin skin that joined with the silken fringe at the back of Daniel's neck. No force, just a little inducement to come forward and to give more of the most precious, magical feeling that Jack O'Neill could never even come close to imagining. 

Their kiss started out tentatively. Will he like it? Will it be good enough? Can two grown apparently straight men manage to do this correctly? Three seconds into the experiment, the answer is a resounding yea, buddy! Jack, while not being completely versed in the finer areas of life had definitely gotten a clue in what makes life worth living and fighting for. He pulled his hands free from their previous occupations and used them to touch, hold, grip and claim all title to one Daniel Jackson, PhD, MA, GS-12 and intergalactic babe and ain't no one taking this guy away from me now unless it's over my dead body and you pull him from my cold stiff fingers, where the fuck have I been and how stupid was I anyway." 

Daniel felt an overwhelming urge to match, to dominate with these new feelings. Giving as good as he was receiving, he too pushed back, striving to hold on to his much-desired sensations of taste, smell, and touch. His shoulder twinged sharply as their positions changed. He groaned. 

"Daniel?" Jack's voice permeated his feelings of arousal. "Danny, oh damn, did I hurt you?" 

"No!" He growled back. "No, don't." 

The erotic pressure lessened. "I did hurt you. Damn it, what the fuck was I thinking...." 

"Jack..." 

"It's okay, Danny, I won't hurt you again." Jack tried to release him. "Geez, I'm so stupid." 

"NO!" Taking advantage of the lessening of the grip holding him, Daniel pushed and rolled, turning the tables on his beloved adversary and putting Jack on the bottom. "Don't you dare quite me now, Jack O'Neill!" He commanded in a snarl. "Don't you dare!" 

Jack, flat on his back with an enraged aroused man on his belly and every erogenous zone on his body in play, could only look up at Daniel with surprise. "But I hurt you." 

"No!" Daniel denied vehemently, "He hurt me, not you." A gentle long fingered hand delicately traced Jack's mouth and jaw. "You never hurt me, you only heal." 

"No, I just did hurt you, your shoulder..." 

"My shoulder is fine, Jack." Daniel leaned down and kissed him on the mouth, working their lips together, insinuating his tongue into wondrous places. He murmured as he used his mouth to map out his territory. "I'm fine, Jack, I'm better than fine." He said breathlessly, lips, tongue, mouth, hands, everywhere and anywhere. "Don't you want me, Jack?" 

"Yes, oh, my, yes..." What the hell kind of question was that? Where had his Danny learned such things? 

"Cause I want you, Jack!" 

He nodded vehemently, unable to answer, his mouth otherwise occupied. 

"Good, cause I need you, Jack. I need you like breathing." Daniel pushed his pelvis into Jack's groin. "I need you like eating, Jack. I so want you, in the very worst way...in the very best way." 

Jack could only gaze up at him, his hand stroking through the soft brown hair. He nodded nervously. 

Daniel stopped and looked at him with concern; Jack was nervous. "Is there something...wrong?" 

The older man shook his head negatively. "No, it's just, well; I'm kind of surprised I guess." He reached up and kissed him gently. "Danny, have you ever been with a man before?' 

Daniel looked at him in surprise. "Yes, though it's been a while. Um, haven't you?" 

Jack smiled nervously at him. "Yeah, a long time ago. It's just..." 

"Just what?" Daniel pulled back slightly and wove his fingers through the tousled graying hair. ""What's wrong?" 

"Well, it's just the last time...well, it wasn't a good thing." He pulled his friend down to lay on his chest. Jack looked at the ceiling avoiding the blue eyes that looked up at him searchingly. "I...uh, had a uh, well, some bad experiences and I guess I'm a little nervous...after all." 

"In the Middle East...in Iraq?" Daniel guessed, his voice quiet, calm. "You were hurt." 

"Yeah,...but I'm okay." The older man assured him. "You know I love you Daniel. I want this too, it's just... well, you're the first since then..." 

"It's all right Jack." Daniel saw Jack's tense expression and answered him in a gentle voice. "We have all the time in the world." 

Jack nodded, then looked at him quizzically. "Uh, Daniel..." 

'Yes?" 

"Clothes, Daniel." 

"Clothes?" 

"As in too many of them." He smiled hesitantly at his Daniel's confusion. "On you, that is." 

"Oh, yeah, well," Daniel returned the smile with encouragement. "Didn't want to scare you or anything." 

"There have been many reactions that I've had to you with little or no clothing on, Danny. Scared has never been in the mix." 

Daniel had to chuckle. "I'll take that as a compliment." 

Jack kissed the nose that seemed to be directly in line with his lips. "Oh, it's meant to be one, believe me." 

Daniel put his hands on the bed on either side of Jack and rolled over avoiding putting weight oh his sore shoulder. He sat back and pulled the tee shirt off over his head slowly, mindful of his injury. Jack's hands were busy working on Daniel's belt and fly buttons. After divesting Daniel of his clothes, Jack slipped out of his own boxers and tee. Finally, the last barrier was removed and the two lay side by side, naked to each other's eyes. Jack reached out and stroked the smooth chest with his fingertips, Daniel shivered, the tactile sensations exciting to him. He was already hard, the sight of Jack, waiting for him, had pushed him to the limit. He reached out and grasped the other man behind the neck and pulled him closer. Their bodies touched, and both of them reacted to the sight, touch and smell of each other. Daniel's insistent hands pulled his love into another deep kiss. Jack responded by using his hands to stroke and define his lover's form, caressing the skin and massaging the muscles. 

Lying sided by side, they came together softly at first, allowing each other time to learn and adjust to the others needs. Daniel held back, taking his time, allowing the other man to set the pace in deference to his nervousness. His innate gentleness allowing for any fears or uncertainties that might haunt his lover's subconscious mind. Jack, in his concern for the other man's injury, eased into the new role of their relationship, one not only of protector but of beloved as well. Their soul deep bond heated and fused from the soft gold of devotion to the diamond solidity of commitment with the passion of loving what was worthy of being loved. 

Finally, touching the perfection of their bodies, tasting the flavor of flushed skin, smelling the scent of shared arousal, feeling the fire of passion, seeing their encompassing beauty, and knowing their shared elemental passion; their senses were overloaded. The emotions were too tightly strung for the physical contact to be prolonged. Coming together in the fever pitch of desire, bodies filled with fervor too long denied, they exploded together in completion to lie in the afterglow of their sensations. 

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The phone rang insistently on its nightstand perch by the bed. Out of long habit, Daniel rolled over and picked up the receiver. "Hullo," 

"Hello. Colonel?" 

"No," he rolled over and plopped the receiver down on the pillow between Jack and him. 

Jack raised himself up on his elbow and looked at the instrument still sleep befuddled. "What?" 

"s for you." 

"What? Who?" 

"Phone, Ssam." 

"Where?" 

"The phone." 

"Ooh," he picked it up. "O'Neill." 

"Colonel?" 

"Carter?" 

"Sir?" 

"What? Whatz wrong? Recall?" He sat up rubbing his face with his free hand. 

"No, Sir. We're on the way to Denver." 

"Who?" 

"Janet and I." 

"Ooh," He remembered now. "Waddaya want?" 

"I called to see if you wanted us to get you something from Denver. Sir, are you all right?" 

"Sleepin'." 

"Sir, is that Daniel with you?" Sam was giggling. 

"Here, she wants you." He plopped the phone down on the pillow. 

"No, she doesn't. T'ld you." 

"On the phone." 

"Oh, Hullo." 

"Daniel?" Janet looked over at her in confusion. Sam looked at Janet and laughed. 

"What?" 

"What are you doing?" 

"Sleepin', waddayawan?" 

"Listen carefully. Do you want anything from Denver?" She stilled her giggles for a minute. 

"Coffee." 

"You want coffee? From Denver?" She was laughing again. "It'll get cold by the time I see you again." 

Jack looked at Daniel and shook his head. "Gi'me that...Carter, " 

"Sir?" 

"Get the most expensive ten pound bag of coffee beans they have and bring it home...I'm gonna throw it at Daniel." The voice faded as it got farther away from the receiver. 

"Why did you answer the damn phone anyway? 

"Don't be an ass, Jack." Came the mumbled reply. Then the connection was cut off with a click. 

As the phone disconnected, Carter had dissolved into one large giggle. Janet looked at her oddly. "What's wrong?" 

"Daniel finally opened his eyes." 

"What?" Janet looked at her. "I don't understand." 

Sam realized what she had said and shook her head. "Nothing," 

"I don't think so young lady." Janet tried to look disapprovingly at her friend but failed. 

"Please, Janet, don't ask me any more." Sam settled down and rubbed her tummy. The baby was kicking. "I can't say." 

Janet was trying to look piercingly at her best friend and keep her eyes on the road at the same time. "What's going on, Samantha Carter? Did the Colonel want something from Denver or not?" 

Carter had an urge to tell Fraiser that the Colonel now had everything he wanted, and so did Daniel, but she knew that information was too much and some times too much knowledge could be a dangerous thing. "He wants a ten-pound bag of the most expensive coffee beans I can find...so he can throw it at Daniel." She giggled. "And I think he means one bean at a time." 

Janet laughed, mostly satisfied. "Those two are like little kids sometimes." 

Sam nodded and smiled resting her hand on her now quiet abdomen. "You can say that again." 

Jack lay there on the bed in his guestroom watching Daniel sleep. His friend and lover had promptly rolled over and dozed off again as soon as the early morning phone call was over. Jack was still, quite frankly, amazed. To have this present, the gift of a loving soul mate not just offered but given unconditionally was a mind-boggling concept to him. He had always had to work very hard to gain the good things in life. Love, security, knowledge, skill; from his early childhood Jack had earned everything by the sweat of his brow and the spilling of blood. He had known that he loved Sara, and worked hard to earn her devotion and their marriage. He had loved her even more when she had given him his son. But when he suffered the captivity of war, it had stolen something from them and then, when Charlie had died, the relationship and their marriage had all quickly fallen apart. The fragile tie had broken and he hadn't believed that Jack O'Neill deserved a second chance. 

He'd had no other real lasting bond with any one else...until Daniel had wandered in and stumbled into his life. By proving over and over again that he was Jack's friend, his student and his admirer, the young man had laid the framework of a close and binding friendship. And if Jack had an inkling that their relationship would have taken this direction, he had managed to ignore it completely in the years that he'd known the amazing man. And Jack knew that if something would happen to interfere with this relationship, that Daniel would knock him down, drag him back and then sit on him until they had worked it out. His Danny was nothing if persistent. Even his confession of problems to come because of his painful history as a POW had not caused one of those arched eyebrows to be raised in concern. Oh, okay, just one more thing to be worked on, ironed out and solved by that stubborn Jackson intellect. Trouble and tribulation was just more bumps in the road and Daniel had always managed to be an all terrain vehicle on the highway of life. 

After a while, aware that Daniel would sleep for some time yet, Jack finally rose from the bed and headed for his bathroom for the early morning rituals of a hot shower, a close shave and all the other necessities. Turning on the shower Jack stepped in and began to wash. His mind went back to the younger man who had insinuated himself into his life and bed to consider their future together. 

Work would be a concern. He knew that they would have to be circumspect in their actions around each other. Though he knew that his superior, General Hammond, would not pry into their private lives they could not be obvious in any way. The phone call from Carter this morning had been unfortunate. While he trusted his Major and friend, they didn't have the right to put her in a difficult position. Her accidental knowledge of their true relationship while it could be uncomfortable was not of great concern. 

Daniel finally opened his eyes and looked around identifying his location. He was in Jack's guestroom, he was in Jack's guest bed and he had been in Jack's arms the night before. Daniel could hear the shower running down the hall and knew that was where his partner had gone. He was a little surprised at himself. This was not where he had expected to be three days ago. He loved Jack, had always done so. He'd known that for a long time but he had certainly not expected anything like this to come of his feelings for the other man. 

Oh, he had some knowledge of what a deep abiding love like this could entail. If all things had gone right he would have still been happily, monogamously and heterosexually married to Sha'uri on Abydos, but it hadn't. And he was a little concerned about Jack's negative feelings that he carried from his wartime experience at the hands of cruel guards. Daniel also knew that he wasn't the most experienced of lovers. Sarah had taught him the enjoyment of their bodies. His marriage to Sha'uri had shown him the wonderment of deep abiding love and his relationship with Sam had taught him the importance of tenderness. However, he loved Jack, and he and Jack had found the way to passion because Jack loved him for no other reason than he was himself. It certainly wasn't going to be the easiest course for either of them to take. There would be obstacles, problems and situations in both their work relationship and their private lives. But he knew their relationship would be worth all the trouble and fighting that it would take to maintain. Their faith and love would be their foundation. 

The sound of the water stopped, and a few minutes later the other man opened the door and came back into the bedroom. He saw Daniel lying awake in the bed, watching the doorway. Jack came over to him and sat down on the bed, he then leaned over and kissed him, a warm passionate exchange. "Hi there." 

"Hi." Daniel smiled up at the bare chest, Jack was only wearing a towel wrapped around his lean hips. He reached up to touch the grizzled chest hair. 

"How are you feeling? How's the shoulder?" 

"Good." He looked up to the other man. "You?" 

"I'm fine, better than fine." Jack surveyed him critically. "Hungry?" 

Daniel reached up with his good arm to pull Jack down to him. "For you." 

Jack leaned down into the arms that asked for him and accepted the kiss that was waiting. After several minutes of oral exploration, he looked down at his lover. "You know that Carter has us all figured out by now since you answered the phone." 

"Jack, she's the one who told me." Daniel smiled up at him. "She said she wouldn't marry me because I was in love with someone else. She told me to open my eyes and look for the passion." He gazed up at Jack. "I looked, and I found you there." 

Jack gazed at him for a moment, the brown eyes meeting the blue. "Ya know, Danny. Sometimes I think she is way smarter than we are, except for one little detail." 

"What's that?" 

"She let you get away." He leaned over and kissed the younger man again. "I'm not."


End file.
